Solon bingham



Modem BINGHAM.

WASH BOARD.

.No. 373,217. Patented Nov. 15,1887.

WITNESSES: I I INVBNTOR,

. ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

soLoN BINGHAM, or oo KLINevILLE, 'NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR To BENJAMIp R. JENKINS, AGENT, or SAME PLACE.

WASH-BOARD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 373,217, dated November 15, 1887.

Application filed February 24, 1887. Serial No. 228,781.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SoLoN BINGHAM, acitizen of the United States, residing at Conklingville, in the county of Saratoga and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Wash-Board, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in wash-boards in which two opposite washingsurl'aces are used, and which are to be provided with readily-adjustable soap box or receptacle, dress-protector, and suds-drip combined and interchangeable and constructed and arranged to face either Way. I attain these results by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is an isometrical view of my washboard. Fig. 2 is a vertical end elevation of the same with rear standard or upright removed. Fig. 3 is a similar View as Fig. 2, showing a modified compressing-spring. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section showing a form of board with one door only.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

A A are the side frames or standards of a wash-board; B B, the double-faced washingsurfaces; 0, the cap or crown-piece; D, the upper crossbar or thick head, being located at the upper end of the washing-surfaces and Two boards, F F, are formed as shown in the drawings, and compressed or forced against the side frames or standards, A A, by means of suitable springs,,G G. The base or edge face of each board F F is formed with the required bevel to give the proper pitch or angle of the plane of the boards when in position as a dress-protector, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

It will be seen that the springs G G act as hinges or bearings in which the pins h h, driven in the boards F F, are the pivots. Figs. 1 and 2 exhibit the boardwhen arranged for use, the rear board F in both figures acting as the bottom of the soap box or receptacle, and its extreme lower edge or part serving as the water or suds drip. These boards F F are held in the required positions-open or closed-byrneans of the springs G G in much (ModeL) the same manner as the blades of a pocketknife.

Fig. 3 shows the boards F F closed, forming a convenient container for the soap when not in use.

My device may be applied to a single-faced washboard quite as well as to a wash-board having two opposite washingsurfaces, the under board being affixed to the wash-board proper; or it may be hinged to or connected with the springs G G to the one forming the protector. The latter, when closed, forms the soap container when not in use, as above stated. and both upper and under boards, F F, may in this manner be opened out each way for washing and cleansing out the soapcontainer.

The springs may be modified or changed in form from those represented in the drawings without changing the operation of the device, as will be readily understood.

It will be observed that the boards F F are interchangeblethat is to say, the upper board is a shield or dress-protector, while the rear or under board answers the purposes of a soap-coptainer and sudsdrip, it extending below ordownward far enough to convey the water or suds into the tub; and when the wash-board is reversed the boards F F are also reversed, but perform their functions when properly adjusted, as before, only their positions are reversed or changed, respect ively.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, with a wash-board, of a spring, as G, held in its upper end, and a board, F, hinged to said spring, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. Awash-board having the flat cross-piece D and head 0, the spring G, secured in the upper end of said wash-board, and the board F, hinged to the springs G, substantially as set forth.

SOLON ,BINGHAM.

Witnesses:

F. J. DUNN, I. W. LATOHER. 

